His Michaelmas Mistress

by Marly Mathews

  “You should have done, Freddie, if that’s what you like,” Clarence said. “I suppose…even though it is kind of wet out there, I could have done the same. It’s supposed to be manly, isn’t it? I mean, a man who can put up with the elements and all that sort of thing, is a rugged sort, right? And ladies, they like that, right?”

  “I don’t like riding for long journeys on horseback. Long rides always make me so sleepy,” the Duke said. “I suppose it is a sign of my age. Although, even when I was a young buck, I didn’t much care for horseback riding for long distances. It used to make me awfully sore.”

  “I suppose when you’ve walked across most of Europe, riding a horse even in the drizzle, is better than having no horse at all,” Freddie said ruefully. “I had some good times in the Wars, but I don’t miss the days when we had to walk through mud, and snow, cross rushing waters…and everything else that came our way. No…this is the life of ease.”

  “Oh, but you do have some riveting tales to tell. Like that one time where you and Lucky almost didn’t make it off that bridge before it blew,” Clarence said excitedly.

  “You…you were almost blown to kingdom come?” the Duke asked shakily.

  “Oh aye. I had a few incidents like that, and if that one makes your hair stand on end, I won’t tell you about the others. I’ve been shot and stabbed, and you know about the flogging, and yet, here I am. I wasn’t worried, that day. I had Lucky by my side. That man can avoid disaster like nobody’s business. ‘Course he was more careful measuring his fuses after that. Ah, those were good times. We took down a jolly good amount of Frogs with that blast. Wellington commended us for that day.”

  “My son…the hero,” the Duke said proudly.

  “Oh, aye,” Clarence said. “If I had been in your boots, I would have had to change my drawers after that close of a brush with death.”

  Freddie laughed. “Tiny had to. He said he nearly died, watching it all.”

  They all laughed again, and Cyril started mumbling as he woke up. He rubbed at his eyes, looked over at Freddie and asked, “Are we there yet?”

  *****

  Wilton Park beckoned to Julia. She had left a few frocks there that she wanted to wear, and one that would work well, should she decide to marry Freddie outside of the church. She had expressed her need to regain those frocks, so Ruby had agreed to accompany her to the grand house, so she could take them back with her to Castleton Court.

  They rode by barouche this time. She hadn’t the heart to take the curricle, as she was still bemoaning not being able to race anymore.

  It wasn’t that Freddie had told her to stop, she’d merely decided that it wasn’t something a respectable married woman should do, and now, she was rueing her decision quite bitterly. Freddie never told her to do anything—he would have asked…but he hadn’t even broached the subject with her.

  They drove up the long gravel drive, and a footman came round to help them alight. She loved this house, and couldn’t wait to make it her home.

  “You are going to live here once you marry Freddie?” Ruby asked.

  “Aye…I think we’ll make a lovely life in this big old house,” Julia sighed happily. “I can’t wait to move in, and have Freddie chasing me through the house.”

  “Chasing you through the house?” Ruby asked, blushing.

  “Never mind, dear,” Julia said. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Oh, it is breathtaking. I would love for you to take me on a tour of the house,” Ruby said.

  Julia nodded her head, hooked her arm through hers, and was about to knock when the butler opened the door for her. They must have seen them pulling up.

  “I shall have to take you to see the manly rooms, as Freddie calls them,” Julia laughed, “and the grounds are awe inspiring as well. Once we take a tour of the house, you shall have to see them.”

  As they walked into the grand entryway that was flanked with marble statues, and boasted a beautiful chandelier, Ruby’s appreciative sigh made Julia smile. The house had been built to be a showpiece of the last lord’s grandfather’s wealth, and though the last lord had lost all of his money, his family had once been one of the wealthiest in the County. Lord Lumley’s gambling addiction had completely ruined that.

  A scruffy looking terrier barked happily, and ran toward them.

  “Well, what do we have here?” Julia asked, bending to scratch the dog’s head. “You must be Alfie,” she mused. “Freddie told me all about you, and it sounds as if you’ve come up a far bit in the world, my wee man.” The terrier wagged his tail happily, and stood up on his hind legs in a plea to be picked up. She picked him up, and he snuggled into her arms. “I do hope that Freddie made certain you had a good bath. Come along, Ruby, I’ll show you the Billiards Room first. It is one of Freddie’s favourite places.”

  “Oh, that sounds splendid, Julia.”

  Ruby smiled, and walked with her, as she led her through the house. The butler shadowed them, and she turned around to confront the older man. “Is there something amiss, Mr. Hargreaves?”

  “I…uh, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, as you’re not married to Lord Knightwick yet, but the Duke of Stoneleigh, and his friend, Lord Charles Tempest have called upon the Marquess several times in his absence. They have showed up every day for the last three days, in an effort, I suppose, to see him before he marries you.”

  Julia sighed heavily. “Nothing they can say or do, will stop the wedding this time around. I have told Lord Charles as much. It is a fruitless endeavor on his behalf.”

  “I gathered as much, my lady. I entreated upon them to call upon you, and to leave the Marquess alone, but I don’t think they shall listen to me.”

  She pursed her lips. “And let me guess…they call right around this time, don’t they?”

  “Aye, your ladyship…and then, and then, there is the matter of more poaching incidents. The gamekeeper up and left…he was so scared. And with the Marquess and his mates away, I do not think it is safe for anyone to walk the grounds, until they return. I was quite surprised by how lily-livered Mr. Browne was…he never showed any of these traits, whilst Lord Lumley was master.”

  She sighed. “Well, he wasn’t much of a gamekeeper, was he? Freddie shall have to hire someone made of sterner stuff.”

  The butler nodded his head. “He told me before he up and left that he suspected there was a gang of them loose on the grounds, and he said they had London accents. He said, he wouldn’t mess around with that sort. So I would advise against going out there for a stroll, my lady.”

  Julia shivered, as foreboding rushed through her. She had so looked forward to showing Ruby the beautiful grounds and yet…if there was danger lurking on the grounds, she didn’t feel like tempting fate. She would heed the butler’s advice. After the trials that Rose had Iris had been through, she was loathe to put herself into such a situation, especially when Freddie was still away.

  “Mayhap, we should fetch your frocks, and away. I don’t know why you didn’t just send your abigail to collect them.”

  “She hardly saw them. She wouldn’t know which ones I wanted, and besides, I don’t always require my maid to do things for me. I am spoiled, but not that spoiled,” she laughed nervously. “I trust the house is safe, Mr. Hargreaves?”

  “Aye, we keep it locked up, my lady.”

  “Then, let us collect what we came for, and then we shall return to Castleton Court. I think there is a lovely red frock in there that would suit you well, Ruby. I shall gift it to you. I plan on having Freddie take me to London shortly after we are married, so I can buy another trousseau…not that I don’t already have enough. It is a good thing he is full of juice. I can marry a man without a title…but I do not think I could marry a poor man. No, even I am not that saintly.”

  Ruby laughed. “I have little choice in the matter. I think I shall have to marry a man that is cucumberish because the only man that would take me would be a man with no money.”

  “Why would you
think that, Ruby? Lord Charles looked at you with a favourable eye. He could probably be persuaded to marry you, if you gave him enough of an inclination, and he is not exactly without means. His father has a vast estate, and he had bequeathed a good amount of his fortune to Charles. Charles told me that in his father’s will, his fortune was split evenly between his three sons. It is not something that is usually done…although my Grandfather did do that with my Uncle Edward, and my Papa.”

  They walked up the sweeping oak staircase to the rooms above. She went into the bedchamber that she would share with Freddie, and placed Alfie down so he could run around the room. Then, she took a blessed moment to enjoy the lingering essence of Freddie. Some would think she was mad, but Freddie’s personality seeped into this room, and now clung to it, in his absence. She sighed, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Taking her glove off, she smoothed her hand over the bedclothes.

  “This dramatic scarlet hue was it your choice, or Freddie’s?” Ruby asked.

  Julia shrugged her shoulders. “Ruby, Freddie likes red. I don’t mind it, so I made certain that I decorated as much as possible with it. It keeps him happy, and if he is happy, I am happy. You could also set your sights on Lucky or Tiny, they are both good men. Some of the rooms I didn’t have to decorate at all, so we were able to get it all done in a short amount of time. I do think that Tiny or Lucky would be good choices for you, Ruby.”

  “Tiny?” Ruby asked, in a small voice. “Lord Spaulding? Oh, no. He scares me more than Freddie does. I can’t even call him by his Christian name, let alone call him Tiny. As for Lord Prescott, there is a dangerously daring quality to him that wouldn’t suit me. No, he seems like he likes to live life on the edge, and I like a humdrum existence. I like predictability, and I don’t think Lord Prescott does. And he is a handsome devil. I never thought anyone who looked like him would give me a second glance. I’d probably have better luck trying for Tiny. Men who look like Lord Prescott, usually don’t go for ordinary girls like me. And there is that dangerous quality to him…”

  “I haven’t sensed that dangerously daring quality that you speak of. Lucky is a gentleman, and from what I have seen, he is quite a mild mannered fellow. He is patient, and very little seems to ruffle him. He might have lived a dangerous life during the war, but he is as harmless as a…well, he is perfectly harmless, anyway. And I keep telling you, you are a pretty girl. Never forget that. As for Lucky being dangerous, he would never hurt a woman, so you mustn’t worry.”

  “Perhaps, you are right. I don’t mean that I find him threatening. I merely meant he looks like the sort who craves a certain amount of excitement in their life. I suppose with so many eligible men to choose from I should attempt to ensnare one of them, eh? And yet, I am not that type of a girl. I confess, I have never known how to use my womanly wiles on men. They always seem to make me want to hide, or flee in terror. It is true. I am hopeless when it comes to them.”

  “I shall help you,” Julia said.

  She pulled open one of her wardrobes, and reached for the red gown she thought would suit Ruby. Laying it out on the bed, she went back to the same wardrobe, and picked out a few more frocks. “Now…what do we do with them?” she asked innocently.

  Ruby sighed, and carefully folded them, and then went and pulled out a portmanteau. Julia smiled. She knew exactly what to do with them. Ruby was one of those people who always had to feel useful, and the more helpless Ruby thought she was, the more needed Ruby would feel.

  “As soon as Freddie returns, he shall simply have to make short work of whatever kind of rabble is roaming our estate. I want it to be safe for me and my guests. I don’t like to feel threatened in my own home.”

  “Well, with Freddie around, you could hardly feel as if you were in jeopardy.”

  “No, Freddie has a way of making me feel safer than anyone else has ever made me feel.”

  Once Ruby had packed the portmanteau, Julia reached for it, and Ruby pulled away.

  “I can carry it, Julia, really I can.” She held it with both hands, and though it looked a little heavy for her, Julia sighed, and allowed her to have her own way.

  “Let us depart this place. I shan’t return here until Freddie is back. The house feels a little too cold without him in it.”

  “I agree. The servants…did you keep them all from the previous lord? Because…” Ruby paused and then continued, “Maybe you should have sacked them all and hired those you had checked out yourself.”

  Julia considered her words. She and Freddie hadn’t thought of sacking the staff. Well, she had, and Freddie had balked at it, saying that it wasn’t the servants’ fault that Lord Lumley had such a terrible vice, and had bankrupted himself.

  They opened the bedchamber door to be confronted with a frightened maid. She put her finger over her lips, and gestured to them to move back inside of the bedchamber.

  With her arm on Ruby’s, she and Ruby did as the panicked maid bid them to do. Once the door was firmly shut behind them, the maid sighed, and went about ensuring that the door leading into the dressing room was locked securely.

  “They…your ladyship, you’re in terrible danger. I don’t know if you can get away…but…but…I want to help you to try to escape…they are talking down in the kitchen right now about what to do with you and the little Miss…they’re going to do you harm…they’re going to hurt you.”

  “What…take a deep breath, and tell me exactly what you mean to say,” Julia said, a little rattled by what the maid had said.

  “They…they’ve done and killed him, they have.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Who did they kill?” Julia asked shakily.

  “Mr. Browne, and they gone and tied up the other two lords, and they’re trying to figure out what to do with them, and now…now, they don’t think they got anything left to lose. They had a fine enterprise going before you and the Marquess stumbled onto it. They, they was afraid of the Marquess…but in his absence, they done got cocky again, didn’t they? Lord Lumley, he was always away in London, he didn’t know hide nor hair of what they done when he was away…but you’re a nice lady, and you always treat us with respect, and the Marquess…he’s a one of us…or he was one of us, and he loves you, so me and a few of the other maids…we ain’t gonna see you meet the same fate of Mr. Browne.”

  “They…” Now Julia felt quite shaken, and she and Ruby clung to each other so tightly, she knew she’d have bruises on her skin come the morrow. “Are you telling me that the servants killed Mr. Browne?”

  “Aye, my lady. They are working with a bad sort of people. Mr. Browne knew too much, and he was going to report them to the authorities so they said he had to go. They bludgeoned him over the head, and he dropped like a sack of flour. His body ain’t even cold yet, and we alls been told not to say nothing because we’re all in it together, ain’t we? They told us we’d all hang…but they didn’t expect you to come here before they got rid of the body, and I ain’t going to be part of seeing you and Miss Massey get hurt.”

  “Murder?” Ruby asked. Her face lost all of its colour, and Julia didn’t have to look in the mirror to know that she looked the same way. “Did she say murder?” Ruby asked again.

  “Whatever you do, Ruby. Don’t you dare scream,” Julia warned.

  Ruby’s body started to shake. She let go of Julia’s arm, and went over to sit down on the bed.

  “What do we do? How…couldn’t we just slip out of the house?” Julia asked.

  “No…they have lost their minds. They’ve gone straight to Bedlam. They’re not thinking clearly anymore. All they know is that they have to find a way to avoid the noose.”

  “They can’t. They have been discovered, haven’t they? They can’t think to figure a way out of this one…not if they’ve killed the gamekeeper…and what exactly were they doing that they were found out for, anyway?”

  “They had profitable business going with the game on these lands. They was poaching and selling the game to them in Londo
n who pay big money for it. It’s a gang that runs things, you see, and Mr. Hargreaves is a part of that gang. He wasn’t always. Once, he was a good respectable butler, but the extra blunt he could earn from working for the gangs…well, he couldn’t resist.”

  “Freddie caught the poachers. They were Enoch Smith, and his wife, Madge.”

  “Enoch? Oh, he wasn’t a part of the gang. He’s a useless sod, aye, but he don’t run with that sort. He was just here trying to use Freddie…I mean to use the Marquess, I suppose. I don’t even know if they knew about the gang that operated out of here…I don’t think they did.”

  “We are trapped,” Ruby whispered. “How are we going to get out of this one alive?”

  Julia chewed her lower lip. “You mentioned two other lords…where are they being kept?”

  “They’re being kept in the Billiards Room…they’ve tied them up and gagged them, they did. They’re not going nowhere, though they are fighting. They won’t get out because they have someone watching the door. And the blackguards are armed. They’ve got it all figured, they does.”

  Julia tried to quell the sickening sensation in her gut. Somehow, they had to get out of this pickle alive. She’d been bloody determined not to be foolish and put herself in harm’s way, and here she was…in harm’s way.

  Damnation.

  What was it with the Lovett women? Were they just magnets for trouble?

  “There are secrets that only pass to members of the family and owners of the homes. These secrets will work to our advantage. Servants never know about them. No matter how old of a retainer they might be…it is information that is never shared outside of the family. This secret was only passed to the head of Lord Lumley’s family. No one else in his family knew about it save for him, and his father before him. He wanted to only share it with Freddie, but Freddie insisted I be privy to it as well, and now, that stubbornness of his, shall be our saving grace.